| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food industry |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | Mar del Plata, Argentina |
| Key people | Benjamín Sisterna (founder) |
| Products | Alfajores, cone-shapped alfajores, dulce de leche, cookies, puddings |
| Website | www.havanna.com.ar |
Havanna is a leading Argentine manufacturer of food products (mostly known due to its famous alfajores, which are considered amongst the best of Argentina [1] [2]). The company also operates its own system of franchise coffee stores and exports its products to Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Mexico, Paraguay, Perú, Spain, United States and Venezuela. [3] [4] [5]
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The firm was founded in 1948 by Benjamín Sisterna, Demetrio Elíades and Luis Sbaraglini and began its activities as a producer of alfajores in the city of Mar del Plata. Sisterna was a baker (he had worked in his home town and later in traditional Argentine bakery "Confitería Los Dos Chinos"). The first product he made was "Alfajores Santa Mónica", created along with his partner Sbaraglini. Those alfajores were offered in some points of sale in Buenos Aires for a brief time.
In the 1940's Sisterna arrived to Mar del Plata, the most important coastal city of Argentina, where he soon formed team with Demetrio Elíades, the owner of the Confitería Havanna situated in downtown Mar del Plata. It was said that the name "Havanna" was an homage to the Capital City of Cuba but the reason why the name was written with double "n" remains unclear nowadays.
The products of Confitería Havanna were elaborated using the same formula that has remained to present days. After the chocolate-flavoured alfajores, other varieties were incorporated with great success in all cases. For a long time Havanna's alfajores were chosen by the tourists that arrived to spend their vacations at the popular seaside resort, with the brand Havanna becoming representative of the city and of Argentina as a national product. [6]
In 1998 Havanna was sold to the local company Exxcel Group for about U$S 85 million. At the moment of the purchase Havanna produced 5,5 million dozen alfajores by year in its two industrial plants located in Mar del Plata. The company also had 130 shops in both cities, Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata, employing 300 people (increasing to 600 in summer, usually the time of the year when Mar del Plata receives the most important attendance of visitors). [4]
By 2003 Havanna had increased its debt, reaching more than U$S 30 million, due to the collapse of the economy in Argentina that went in 2001. As a result, the Exxcel Group sold the company to a group of private investors called "Grupo DyG" (Spanish DyG Group) [7]
One of the keys of Havanna’s long remaining in the market has been the opening of coffee stores (which sell not only different varieties of coffee but also the classic and popular Havanna products like alfajores, lemon cookies, brownies, cakes and others chocolate and dulce de leche desserts). The concept was named "Café Havanna" and the business expanded to 230 points-of-sale distributed in Argentina with a great success. [8] [5]
While many restaurants had to close due to low sales, the franchise stores increased considerably. The most notable cases are the coffee stores, which sell their products under different brands, according to a report written by the Argentine Franchise Association [9]
Havanna was cited as the most remarkable case among the coffee stores. After some financial problems during the economic crisis in 2001, the firm achieved to position its brand and became one of the leader in franchising stores outside Argentina.[9]
One of the reasons of the success of Havanna stores is based on the high per capita consumption of coffee in Buenos Aires (about 1 kg per person in a year). This average is higher than 2009 statistics but still far from the record reached in 1969 (1.7 kg). On the other hand, in the rest of the provinces of Argentina the consumption of coffee decreases, due to people there preferring other beverages (like "mate") rather than coffee. [10]
The following is a list with the most representative products manufactured by Havanna: [5]
| Product | Flavour |
|---|---|
| Alfajor | chocolate, dulce de leche |
| Cone-shaped alfajor | chocolate |
| Cookies | lemon, chocolate |
| Giant-size alfajor | chocolate |
| Cakes | chantilly cream |
| Easter eggs (seasonal) | chocolate |
| Puddings | traditional |
| Dulce de leche | traditional |
| Coffee | espresso |